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A supporter of a bill to protect reporters and the news media from having to reveal confidential sources said Friday the measure has the backing of the Obama administration and the support of enough senators to move ahead this year.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, spoke optimistically about prospects for the measure, identifying five Republicans who would join with Democrats and independents on a bill that he said would address a constitutional oversight.

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While the first amendment protects freedom of the press, “there is no first amendment right for gathering information,” Schumer said at The New York Times’ Sources and Secrets Conference on the press, government and national security.

During hearings for the Media Shield Law Diane Feinstein claimed that the First Amendment is a privilege and not a right. The government should get to decide who is a legitimate journalist, and who is not.

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I don’t know about you but I find that mindset among some of our political leaders to be very scary. Oppose the party in power and you might lose your right to practice journalism if Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein and others like them get their way. It all seems so short sighted though, they won’t be in power forever